1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an article shipping and/or storage container, and to a shipping and/or storage container having articles, e.g. flat sheets, and more particularly, to a shipping and/or storage container having a base and end caps, the end caps and base are biased toward one another about a plurality of flat glass sheets to maintain the glass sheets in a vertical position and to unitize the base, end caps and glass sheets.
2. Discussion of the Technical Problem
The design of containers for shipping articles, e.g. and not limiting to the discussion, flat glass sheets has evolved in the last thirty five years to reduce the cost of storage and/or shipment of the glass sheets, and to address environmental concerns. More particularly, the shipping containers were initially made of wood and designed for ease of loading the sheets into, and unloading the sheets out of, the shipping containers, and to protect the sheets during shipment and/or storage. To eliminate or reduce the waste disposal concerns, many of the wood containers have been replaced by returnable metal containers.
Although the returnable metal containers provided a solution to the waste disposal problem, it raised other concerns. These concerns included the need for storage areas for the empty containers at the supplier's and customer's facilities, and the transportation of empty containers from the customer's, to the supplier's, faculties. One of several solutions to overcome these concerns was to design containers that were stackable, followed by designing containers that were collapsible and stackable.
Although containers are presently available to meet the present day requirements, e.g. containers that are collapsible, stackable, and protect the sheets against physical damage during shipment and/or storage, it is appreciated by those skilled in the art that it would be economically advantageous to provide a container that is collapsible and stackable into a smaller volume than the presently available containers; protects the sheets against physical damage during shipment and/or storage; and has a minimal amount of disposable material.